Post Tagged with: "astro"

I wrote a review of the second week of Maharaja Lawak Mega 2 weeks ago. Last week was mediocre too but I’m glad Gebu is eliminated. However, SYOK is STILL in the game and seriously, I keep questioning WHY?

But week 4, performance after performance I was laughing like there’s no tomorrow, with exception of a couple performances. Many people are happy that Chef Wan wasn’t there to judge this week. I, on the other hand, was not. I think Chef Wan is the only one that knows how to say it straight without sugarcoating, and because of that majority gave the best performances this week. I still STRONGLY disagree having Siti Nurhaliza there.. her comments were always too ‘sugary’, non constructive, and she was stuttering for words. Why does she qualify to judge comedy show again??? I have no problem with Zainal though.. but guest judges…bleh.

This week’s theme is ‘LOVE‘. I think having a theme makes them perform well.

Now, the two most memorable group performances were BOBOI and OSBON. Oh God, I could barely breathe when I watch them. They were the best. I thought Boboi would suck because it would get very tiring to see them act like little kids week after week but this week I’m glad they put a spin to it. The most hilarious part is when Harun salim Bachik acted as ‘Najwa Latif‘, this new rising youtube star that suddenly got popular. I like their story which is relevant to our current trend now – facebook.

Second one is Osbon… THE BEST that night! Oh God. Abon is completely hilarious – from his way of dressing up as a bride, to his ‘pantun’/poetic ability and spontaneous actions.. as we call it ‘selamba je… ‘. Now this is what or how a comedy should be like. I guess Zainal was right, veterans take a while to warm up but then BAM gave an awesome performance. I think Osbon have also adjusted to the stage, audience and competition.

Also they did the double meaning jokes but it worked. This is what I meant that double jokes, if done correctly can be funny..also I see less performances where each performers were using the same materials/jokes except for Boboi and Osbon who had the same theme (facebook) but they were done perfectly.

But I gotta give props to BP (Bawal Power). At the beginning we heard that Bob Kuman had an accident earlier that day where he fell in the bathroom, ‘broke’ his face and had to be admitted to the hospital. But even so, Sobri had the guts to come out alone to continue the show and did everything spontaneously and most importantly, he delivered! Surprisingly, at the end of his performance, he was being serious when he was telling about Bob’s accident but then he cracked us up again. A job very well done Sobri for having the guts to do that. Total respect.

Hope Bob Kuman will get well soon.

The worst performance? Gosh. There were two – Syok and Adlin. I just don’t know why Syok is still not yet eliminated and the one eliminated is JH?! He was way better than Syok! He got more laughter than Syok.. but there’s no denying that he didn’t do that well either. It was getting pretty tiring with his story about chicken again and again.. we know that’s his trademark but he could have changed it a bit like Boboi did. Then Adlin – wtf? What happened to him? He did so well in week 2.. he fell flat in week 3 and this week he was completely crap. I didn’t even get what he was doing.. yet he wasn’t even in the bottom 3? And Hiro was? Hiro cracked me up.. why were they in bottom 3?? And I just can’t stand Ifa Raziah at all..never liked her. She’s always overacting. We would call it ‘gedik and terkinja2‘. She is never funny either.

I wanna comment about Maharaja Lawak Mega (Mega Maharaja/Great King of Comedy?)

The first Maharaja Lawak was so awesome. It was the best stand up comedy/sketch competition featuring winners & finalists from previous seasons of Raja Lawak (King of Comedy) show. The quality of comedy and competition was so hilarious and awesome that it had a very HUGE rating boost particularly thanks to the top Malaysia comedians – Sepah (who broke up already wtf), Jozan, Nabil & Jambu (R2 also worth mentioning). Now of course Astro would see this opportunity as a cash mine so they decided to do it again, calling all top names & veterans of Malaysian comedy world PLUS from Singapore and Indonesia and call it Maharaja Lawak MEGA.

It started off so-so. Quite mediocre but it’s forgivable. It was only the first week and it’s not easy to face a huge audience live on stage and do comedy. However, they’re not noobs. Majority are veterans in the comedy world and they already KNOW the experience of doing comedy in front of live audience. It amazes me that some failed miserably. What I noticed is that in the 2nd week, it’s very OBVIOUS that majority of the performers are doing double meaning jokes.. was that necessary? It’s the same as newbie comedians doing toilet humor to get some laughs.. I hate toilet humor.. you see, I actually like double meaning jokes. If done correctly they’re actually funny.. but not if every single performers are mentioning/doing the same thing & same joke! It was getting so boring after a couple of performances.

The second thing is the person topic! I love jokes that make fun of somebody relevant as part of the joke.. like in the first Maharaja Lawak, when the judge Mamat Khalid said when people mention you in comedy, they’re not making fun of you, they’re honoring you (referring to Jozan’s performance where Johan acted as Mamat Khalid)… however, in this case, again majority of groups mentioned only one person repeatedly – Siti Nurhaliza! Dude WTF. Don’t you have any other ideas? Is this the quality of maharaja lawak mega?? Performance after performance they would mention Siti Nurhaliza. It’s SO OVERUSED. So tired of hearing her name and her jokes. It’s NOT funny anymore. The second one would be one of the judge’s skin color. Ok, it’s quite funny, not to be taken seriously, but that keeps being repeated also. Wtf?

It’s really quite disappointing and embarrassing that ‘veterans’ in the comedy world can’t even make jokes. Newbies I can understand, but veterans? Some of the acts was so ridiculously childish and stupid that I had to facepalm myself in disbelief. Epic fail. They were only making fools out of themselves.

What’s up with the jury??? Can’t they find better jury???? They chose a CHEF, an ex FOOTBALLER and a SINGER to judge? Guess judges also not relevant to comedy world. What do they have to do with comedy??? I like Chef Wan, he can be extremely funny in his cooking shows but the rest?? Wtf.

I just HAVE to comment about the group who call themselves GEBU.

They didn’t do well in the first episode thus I heard people were criticizing them in facebook. You know what they did? Instead of improving themselves and show the audience that they can do better, they came back EMO and WHINING and went apeshit on stage about the audience who criticized them! WHAT. THE. FUCK.

In my entire life, I have not even once saw a competition where the participants got so angry at the audience for criticizing them and got back on stage and BITCH at them back in a very obnoxious sarcastic manner. Never. I certainly didn’t expect this on this level of competition either! Their second performance was SO PAINFUL to watch. It shows in their performance. It shows in the way they talk and their facial expression that they were pissed off and arrogant. They came back defeated. They didn’t make jokes, instead they were bitching through songs. Musical comedy can be funny, like in the first ML but they weren’t trying to be funny. They were bitching. Their performance rubbed me off in the very wrong way. What’s more painful is watching the skinnier one repeatedly mumbling ‘Hah.. I knew it.. we’ll get criticized again.. I knew it.. time to get criticized.. See told you..“… then give a ‘WHATEVERRRRRRRRRR‘ face…….

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? Were they expecting praises after that goddamn awful performance?? I seriously don’t get why they thought that performance was worthy for maharaja lawak mega? Did they think it’s funny or did they purposely want to show their dissatisfaction?

They should take a look at Amir. He was even there that night. Gosh, I can’t describe how extreme the criticism he got during the first ML. He kept doing retarded performances, but he never once whined, or bitched on stage during his performance no matter how badly the audience wanted him out. Audience in the studio even made fun of him during his performance. Even AC the host got criticized for supporting Amir. But what did he do? He kept on trying which I had to give him props for that. Total respect for that. It’s not easy to do live comedy, but he didn’t show his defeat.

The other thing is their CLOTHING. I’m gonna be harsh in this. When I know and feel fat, I would NEVER EVER wear tight clothing showing all of my bulges. The obese one, during the intro video, was talking about how she couldn’t button her top (her boobs are too big?) Uh what? Hehe you can see her nipple bulge 😉 Then she wears denim short skirt during performance.. Uhhh… I wanna stab my eyes. She dressed so much better in the first episode, so much nicer to look at, but 2nd episode? Totally unflattering. Total what the fuck. Showing her bulging tummy and fat legs. Ew. Fat people shouldn’t wear sexy if they’ve got nothing sexy to flaunt. Ow my eyes. EDIT// It’s not an issue of religion. I don’t care if a muslim wanna wear sexy… as long as you have a sexy body to show & nice to look at.

I totally salute chef wan for giving the comment straight to their face without sugar coating. I saw many people criticizing Chef Wan’s comment.. but he was absolutely right. They were only singing, not being funny. He wasn’t commenting on how singing can’t be done in comedy, he was commenting that their singing wasn’t funny at all.. it wasn’t a musical comedy. It was totally bland and boring. That’s what he meant. Everyone was waiting for the punch lines but that didn’t happen. People criticized Chef Wan but he was telling the truth.

Why I took the time to bitch about Gebu? Because they rubbed me off the wrong way in every way. And I seriously hope they will be eliminated tonight but if not, I expect improvements. I seriously hope it won’t be the case of Amir where he was kept because of his fans’ votes, not because he deserved to be in the show. There are other groups that were not funny, but I could ignore them but not Gebu because of how they were acting and responding to it… all bitchy and arrogant and snobbish. I feel like the skinnier one was trying to say ‘FUCK YOU ALL! FUCK YOU!!!!!!!‘

However, so far I seriously love SAEHU, the group from Indonesia. Bocil, the mini version of Amir is so cute and hilarious! I salute Adlin who dared to dress up as Indian woman… the punch lines weren’t that hilarious but the dancing was! Props to his awesome dancing skill! To me, the best comedian is AC MIZAL, the host. Every time he made random funny at the back always made me laugh to tears. In Adlin’s performance, he did the ‘Hammer’ dance at the back. Every jokes he made could make me laugh so hard since the first ML. He always played along to the contestants’ performances. I disliked him as host in Akademi Fantasia because comedy is his thing. He can’t do serious stuff. To me, AC Mizal cheers up the show.

Check out AC Mizal’s hammer time dance. As we know, whenever Adlin comments as judge, he has no mercy. Now we know what he can do, and he’s not just a big talker. He went all out in this one.

Check out SAEHU’s performance. Even though they spoke Indonesian, but it’s not hard to understand.

PEACE YA’LL.

EDIT// This post was written about GEBU and MAHARAJA LAWAK MEGA. Why this has spawned into a country debate and arguments is beyond me.. but it’s expected. So I’ve unapproved all the comments about countries to avoid serious arguments. If you wanna comment, comment only on the topic of this post which is Maharaja Lawak Mega and Gebu. If you wanna cuss people out or debate on sensitive country issues, please take your immaturity or debate elsewhere. I love Malaysia, I love Singapore. Enough said. Thank you for your understanding.

Sorry I haven’t been blogging for few days. My connection was nice to me for 2 days, few days ago and was connected almost for the whole day, and whole night.. then it just won’t connect at all until today. So currently I have to use my phone as modem.

Now this is rant blog.

If you’re ASTRO subscriber (Pay per view satellite television network station) you would have noticed that a new channel FOX is now available (and FXHD for Astro B.yond). I have no problem with FOX because in US, it’s the channel that brings GLEE. However, I’m just speechless and absolutely appalled that it turns out, Channel [V] is no longer available to be replaced with FOX. HOW FUCKING INSANE.

This is so like the previous case. Hundreds people signed a petition when BBC Entertainment was pulled off because their contract with Astro ended. We were pleading for BBCE to be reinstated as it was the ONLY dedicated British channel. It was replaced with BIO which is absolutely useless. BIO could not replace the awesomeness that is BBCE. But no, Astro didn’t care. Still no BBCE… which means no Dr. Who for me, or British comedies like Little Britain, Fawlty Towers etc. However shortly after that, they introduced Granada TV. Now it’s currently a ‘preview’ channel, and it can be axed anytime. Even though Granada is not as awesome as BBCE was, at least there’s still a dedicated British channel available. I have also heard about BBCE being axed because the government thinks it’s too ‘foreign’. WTF. That’s ridiculous! I would start cussing now but I don’t want the corrupted government to arrest me like some other bloggers.

Now why the fuck did they axe Channel [V] that has been on air for like 13 (or 14) years?? I loved Channel V. It is one of the earliest channels available back in 1998 when I first subscribed to ASTRO. I was a loyal viewer back then. Most of my day was spent watching (and dancing to) music in channel V and MTV Asia. Now there’s only MTV left. Only ONE music channel? No, you cannot include ASTRO HITZ as it’s shit. It’s a channel by Astro, what do you expect?

Now FOX, currently the programs line up SUCKS to the core. The only show I would watch is Family Guy. Other than that?

Smallville– overplayed. It has been on so many channels, repeated, and basically I’m sick of it. I don’t like an hour drama except for Glee because it’s funny, at least. Don’t care if it’s latest season or what.The Simpsons – OVERPLAYED. I know Simpsons is like one of the greatest cartoons of all time, but it has been on few channels before and now it’s on FOX? I’m getting sick of it.Bones – was on STAR World.NCIS – Still available on AXN.Cops – Urgh. Hate this. Was on STAR World.Flash Forward – boring.Lie To Me – boring.

Some people who do enjoy these kind of shows would be jumping for joy. I enjoy sitcoms. When I laugh, I forget my problems.

Of course, FOX is new in Malaysia..maybe after a while, there’d be more shows, but I miss my variety of music. MTV doesn’t ALWAYS play music. Sometimes it’s those stupid shows about spoiled, bratty teens showing off like Super Sweet 16 or Teen Crib.

I’ve been whining and complaining and ranting in Astro facebook. Now, people may be annoyed with me, but I don’t care. This is not free service. I feel that every paying customer deserve to speak out. Should I even mention how often ads appears now? Like every few minutes… it’s starting to feel like free TV. What the hell am I paying for if I can’t even enjoy uninterrupted shows WITHOUT SUBS? Oh God, I used to think ASTRO was heaven sent because it had no subs, but I was dead wrong. Subs are hard coded. You can’t turn it off. That feature is available to selected shows only. It’s ANNOYING having to watch and get distracted by malay subs all the time that doesn’t even translate correctly. I’m not saying my english is perfect, but I work hard everyday trying to improve myself. I won’t improve myself if I can just read the subs. If you’re speaking to real people, can you ‘read’ the sub? Can you get translator?? At least, make the subs switchable where I can turn it on or off. That’s all I’m asking.

EDIT// Sub is NOT to remind you of the national language. That’s just the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Some people misunderstood me. I want OPTION to switch off sub, NOT demolish sub entirely.

Should I even mention the unfair package offer? For example, we only have one Japanese channel – NHK World Premium. Now it’s part of Dynasty package. If I just want to watch NHK, I have to subscribe to the WHOLE package including chinese channels that I have no interest in. For one channel, I have to pay a HUGE amount for the package. Is this fair? This is not PAY-PER-VIEW type of subscription, it’s PAY-PER-PACKAGE.

I could go on and on.. but what’s the point? It’s a problem you have to face when you have company monopolization. I’d terminate my subscription instantly if there’s another alternative, but no. None.